Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has been urged to provide more help to expand Britain’s life sciences industry in his Budget this week (March 3rd).
Experts in the sector have said the timing could be perfect for the UK to emerge as a leading light in the field, giving the country a much-needed reputation booster after Brexit and capitalising on the achievements of the sector in the fight against the Coronavirus, Pharamaforum reports.
Among those urging Mr Sunak to strike while the iron is hot are life sciences lead at Accenture Andrew Meade and his colleague Pervaise Khan.
Mr Meade said the past year as seen the UK become “the dominant player in the global life sciences industry”, with the Covid-19 vaccine rollout programme being “the envy of Europe and the world”.
He added that it is “not a coincidence” that two of the ten most valuable FTSE-100 firms – GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca – are pharmaceutical companies.
“Looking to the UK’s future in a post-Brexit world, there is now potential for the UK to become the global poster-child for life sciences, with great economic potential for the country,” Mr Meade concluded.
The pandemic has also led to a surge in investment in the sector, not least in UK firms. The BioIndustry Association reported last month that there had been an unprecedented investment of $2.8 billion into the sector globally in 2020.
AstraZeneca had faced some hostility outside the UK over its Covid-19 vaccine, with the EU becoming embroiled in a row with the firm over supplies. Several countries subsequently refused to licence it for use in over-65s, citing a lack of evidence of its efficacy for older people due to their fairly low representation in trials.
However, following results in the UK indicating the jab is just as effective in the over-80s as the Pfizer vaccine, France has now backtracked and will offer it to this aged 65-74.